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Catalogue

90. Mosaic Bowl

Accession Number 2003.248
Dimensions H. 4.2, Diam. rim 9.0, Diam. base 4.0 cm; Wt. 59.91 g
Date Late first century BCE–early first century CE
Production Area Italy or possibly eastern Mediterranean
Material Opaque red, white, and green and translucent blue glass
Modeling Technique and Decoration Assembled of slices of canes, cast, applied base-ring; slumped; rotary polished
View in Collection

Condition

Fully preserved; mended and filled.

Description

The bowl has a flaring lip; conical, cyma recta body; and flat bottom. It stands on a tall, circular base-ring formed by a single revolution of an applied coil of glass.

The vessel is made of discoid mosaic tesserae, with florets mostly of the following five types: (1) a central yellow rod surrounded in turn by red, blue, white, and blue layers; (2) a central yellow rod surrounded in turn by blue, red, white, and blue layers; (3) a central white rod set in red, surrounded by a dark blue layer with ten white rods, which in turn is surrounded by a blue layer; (4) a central white rod set in red, surrounded by a dark blue layer with ten yellow rods, which in turn is surrounded by a blue layer; (5) a central red rod surrounded in turn by white, blue, white, and blue layers of glass.

In addition, one tessera of the following type of floret appears: a central green rod surrounded in turn by yellow, red, white, and blue layers of glass.

The coil of the base is ribbon mosaic comprising roughly ten parallel layers of glass in red, white, and blue.

Comments and Comparanda

For the production technique, see and comments on cat. 86. On cast, angular vessels, see comments on cat. 89.

Provenance

By 1974–1988, Erwin Oppenländer, 1901–1988 (Waiblingen, Germany), by inheritance to his son, Gert Oppenländer, 1988; 1988–2003, Gert Oppenländer (Waiblingen, Germany), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003

Bibliography

, p. 118, no. 314; p. 111, plate no. 31.

Exhibitions

Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity (Malibu, 2005–2006; 2007; 2009–2010)

Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples (Los Angeles, 2009)

Gläser der Antike: Sammlung Erwin Oppenländer (Hamburg and Cologne, 1974–1975)